Afterlife
by The 483
Summary: In the aftermath of the SAO incident, a new realm of virtual worlds opened. Alfhiem Online, looked after by one of the old SAO players, grew to be the be the home away from home for those who had learned to live and love in the world of SAO. Picking up with an unseen one of the 6000 or so survivors, we look at the world of ALO and how the survivors returned to their virtual world.
1. Chapter 1

_Sword Art Online:Afterlife_

_By: The 483_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Sword Art Online**_

_**Spoiler Alert: Some spoilers, Light to moderate, are contained herein.**_

**Chapter 1: New Worlds**

It's been 2 years since the clearing of the final boss of Sword Art online, and those captured in the game of life and death who survived have been set free. Most of those who made it till the end were alright, although a number of those involved with what were referred to as "PK guilds" suicided as soon as they were physically able, not able to bear the weight of their misdeeds now that a return to normal life was on the table. Others, who had gleefully hacked down innocents for the sheer pleasure of it, were now sitting in jail, awaiting the formation of new policies to decide their fates. Maybe they would be released, but for the mean time, at least, there were fewer sociopaths on the streets, and that is okay by me.

Me? I was there, and I made it to the end. I was known, in my circles, as Mentor. Yes, that mentor. I never made a splash, like the members of the clearing group. I just sat back, in my hole, doing what I could, to cowardly and concerned with my own things to venture to the front lines more then a few times. I was on the party that found the boss door on the 39 floor. The treasure of the skeletal horde? I was the one that triggered the trap that dropped the group right in the midst of it. Hell, I even crafted some the weapons used on the raid that cleared the game, even though I was minding the shop when the raid itself happens. I heard after we woke, that the creator of the game was actually the head of one of the main clearing guilds. Crazy world, isn't it?

Ah, but, progression wasn't my role, for the most part. I was one of those that cowered in the starting town playing it safe for the first month until we heard that a pair of fighters cleared the first floor boss. That broke the depression that had a lot of us, and got us moving. Knowing that there were people out there, fighting to get out of it while the rest of us wallowed in our own funk, really lit the fire under us.

So I took a look at myself, and found that I was not the type of hero that takes point and gets himself killed trying to save the day. Am I proud of it, no. But I wasn't just going to sit on my hands and do nothing. I was going to help somehow. So I started building my skills slowly. When you live in an MMORPG, grinding is easier than if you're just playing it, because there is nothing better to do, and you are willing to put in the necessary time when your life depends on your preparation.

So, fast forward a few months, and I have my basic weapon skills up to a respectable number, and I am sitting around 25 myself. All this time, I have been focusing my armor and weapon crafting skills, along with some light metallurgy, detection, and gardening skills. One day I am out, and this little guy, I don't remember his name now, is out trying to wastes some trash mobs. I watch, and his form is just awful. So I go over, and help him out, give him some coaching, and just fight with him, letting him improve while I keep an eye out. Come evening, he thanks me, and offers some money for the help. I let him off for free, but it gets me thinking.

Another month down the road, and I have fully fledged groups that I am running though the lower floor dungeons, teaching basics and aiding their raids, so they can get their skills up, crafting sets of armor and weapons, brewing potions and making crystals, and setting up ingredient bundles for field rations. Before I know it, People are calling me Mentor, and coming to me for basic weapons and training. Soon, I have enough to by a small cottage on the 4th floor, and I have a smithy and garden working whenever I am not raiding, and orders from low end shops looking for reliable equipment. But when things get going that good, there the problems are mostly likely to arise.

Enter Raven and Snow. Around this time, call it 7 months after the launch of SAO, I was doing alright for myself. I had a reasonably successful enterprise, my own shop with live in accommodations, and a range of quality crafting and food supplies in stock that almost no one else could match. I had even discovered a unique skill I had, in regards to my smithing ability. Every time I broke down an item to recover a small amount of mats, or learn the schematic to craft it myself, I had a small percentage chance, somewhere around 5-10%, to improve the schematic I already had, giving either a small boost to an items base stats, or a reduced cost to crafting mats. Say, crafting a small iron dagger in its base schematic takes 2 chunks of iron, 2 blocks of wood, and a 3 scraps of hide, and the item made cares a +5 to stab damage. If I got this effect when I broke one down, I would have a new schematic that would give a +6 bonus, or cost one less wood chunk, or such. Add this to the already robust craft system in SAO, and I had a lot of fairly unique items I was able to sell.

Ah, but I sidetracked from my point. I was trying to say that while I wasn't terribly busy, I had a fair bit of discretionary income. So, one day, I am browsing the stalls and shops on the lower floors, looking for new seeds that may have been developed, looking to add to my own private garden stock, when I see these 2, scruffy looking little girls, maybe 12 years old at the most. At this point in the game, it was fairly easy to judge who was getting along well, and who was still struggling based on equipment and where you saw them, as this was the point when a majority of the higher levels had joined guilds and were pushing to clear, as the 24 floor was up, and clearing rate was still accelerating.

Now, from what it looked like to me, these girls, one black haired, one white haired, seemed to be trying to steal food from an NPC vendor. This is not really possible, as the food as a item does not actually exist until the price in money is deducted from your wallet. The displays were literally just dead props. So, while the little black haired one was doing her thing, I had managed to catch the white haired by the eye, and ushered her over.

She went by the name Snow, and her sister Raven. She explained to me that they were not skilled at the game, and afraid of the monsters, even on the lowest floor, and were barely able to scrape a living by donations and scraps, now that most of the higher levels didn't visit the lower floors. So, I, in my most monumentally stupid move to date, made the girl an offer. If she and her sister would like to come and work in my smith, I would float them enough to live off and a place to stay until they could work their way up to supporting themselves.

Ever hear of Chinese Obligation? The skinny of it is, if you take in a stry kitten, you can;t un-take it in, ever. So, in a stupid act of chivalry, I, maybe only 15 myself, end up with a pair of energetic, expensive, emotionally taxing daughters.

There is a social law, dreamed up back in the 20th century, called Harshaw's law, that states plainly that "Daughters can spend 10% more than a man can make in any usual occupation." I can attest to the trueness of this, as for a time after the start, I was spending far more then I was earning.

Though I speak disparagingly of this, do NOT think that I was unhappy. I love my girls, even if they do their damnedest to irritate me at every turn. Sure it was difficult suddenly having to support and keep an eye on two young girls for 24 hours a day, but it was more than worth the trouble. With these Girls, I was no longer trying to survive, I was living.

It took a few months to get them up to speed, to a respectable level, properly equipped, able to know where not to go, ect. Getting them geared actually worked out in my favor, as they seemed to get bored with whatever they had equipped about 4 minutes after they first put it on. So, essentially, this gave me a reason to get dozens of random items on a weekly, if not daily basis, and rather then move all the way to a stall to sell the now useless gear, I was breaking it all down. I may be slightly exaggerating, but I think by the time they reach level 40, I could craft every basic armor and weapon in the game, and a handful of the less common drops.

Again, I am not complaining, as my ability to offer so many different items, in better quality then NPC vendors, and better prices then gave me an edge in the under 60 market. Granted, this gave me more money that was spent on the girls, but I didn't care. Making them happy, made me happy. It was funny, when I was alone, those first months, I had trouble sleeping every night. but with those two around, knowing that I had someone who would be sad if I disappeared, I slept well.

So, the three of us continued to grow the shop, and there was never any mention of them moving to their own place, especially about a month after moving in when they started referring to me as Big Brother. Damn kids. But life in Aincrad became not only tolerable, but enjoyable.

Then, at two years after launch, we got a message. Someone had cleared the game. A message flashed up saying we would be returned to our physical selves, and log out would occur in one minute. You would have thought we'd be happy, but all we were was afraid we'd lose each other. We quickly exchanged names, and I learned that the girls were not, in fact sisters. Celestina Taliaferro and Aurora Frost. I burned the names into my brain as I lost consciousness, onlt to instantly wake up in a strange hospital room.

It's weird, the recovery from muscle apathy of being bedridden for 2 years was not that bad. Physical therapy, the questioning, the isolation, the readjustment, none of it was that tough. True, having to wait over a month to be able to start looking for my girls was hard, but it was still not the hardest part. They had fairly uncommon last names, so I know it would not be to difficult, and at worst, they were talking about designating a separate school to educate all of us who were trapped. So I knew, one way o another, I WOULD find them.

No, the hardest part about it, was talking to people who weren't in the game with us. Now, I am not necessarily blaming them. It's not their fault. But, no matter how many times we told them, they just could not understand what we went through.

To them, we were just all in a coma for two years. They discounted the lives we lived while in Aincrad, or expected us to know all of what went on, secrets about the company, etcetera. I remember one of the times we went and visited one of the friends we had made in SAO, and his mother asked us how we knew each other. So we started explaining that we met when he askeed for some assistance with gearing to take on the 34th floor, but she couldn;t understand that we had only known eachother in SAO. How had we learned all these things about him if we were all comatose in hospital beds in different areas? And what is this non-sense he's talking about being married to this girl up north that he's never even met?

On and on like this, people just not understanding that while it was a "game," to us, it was real life for 2 years. And we were not going to just give up on it all because that world didn't exist anymore, and that everyone else said it was "just a game."

It was the second month we awoke before I was well enough to leave the hospital, and I knew where I was going. While no one truly understood what we all had, someone out there had enough empathy in them to help us. A web site showed up on the internet about a month after we all woke, accessible only to those of us with a SOA login. Inside the site was a list of people discharged from SAO, and the hospitals they were being treated at. I do not know who this person was, but I posted my name and thanked them, on the website. So I went. I had to catch a bus, as it was a town away, and the trip was taxing. But, when I opened that hospital room door, to cry's of "Big Brother! You came!" And saw those smiling, tired, skinny little faces, it was all worth it.

I have never cried as hard as I did then, nor had I ever been as happy.

I was allowed, under the circumstances, to stay at the hospital for a few days. It was good medicine. There were only 8 others in that hospital that had been on SAO, and a big room had been opened up, and all the patients were being kept together. It was like coming home, even though I had not know any of them save my girls in the game. But it didn't matter. We belonged. It was nice. Once we were all sent home, I still kept in touch with the girls, but it was hard to get together, as they lived more then 20 miles away, and were somewhere between 14 and 15, and it must have seemed uncouth for a 18 year old male to be on such close terms with them.

It is said that Children can adapt faster than older people, and I believe it. About a month after we were all healthy, I get a package from Raven (They insisted on using their avatar names, and mine. I agreed, as it was like our own special names for each other) containing a copy of a VR game.

Now, I have never denied the fact that I am cowardly. In truth, I had avoided even touching my Nerve-gear since returning to the world. Deep down I think I had an almost religious fear of getting trapped in it again. But the little messy hand scrawled note with the game made it clear that they would not stand for that.

_Big Brother Mentor,_

_ Jump in. With this, we can be together again._ Here, the hand changed to the more precise and careful script of Snow.

_ We'll be waiting for you._

_ Raven and Snow._

So, I pulled out the helmet, and loaded this new game, ALfhiem Online.

It was like a déjà vu punch to the gut. It felt at once intimately familiar, and oddly strange. I would find out later that it was, in fact, basically a re-skinned SAO with a new skill system in place. The intersting thing I found, as did anyone else that had been in SAO that logged into ALO with their old Nerve-gear, was that, while the levels system was gone, their personal skill stats carried over into this game. All our items, schematics, and the like were corrupt and had to be deleted, but the money we had on person at the end carried over, as well as the actual numbers. What this meant for me was that, while all my schematics and materials were gone, the skill I had mastered in the hard hours at the forge still stayed, along with my unique skill.

So, even though I had, apparently a huge boost, having raised, before the end of SAO, my crafting and gathering skills to crazy highs, I also retained at least a 500 point rank in each of the individual weapon skills, along with high scores in all of the armor classes, I plowed into the tutorial period a rank newbie.

I of course chose the Leprechaun race, as they had a natural boost to smithing ability. I finished the tutorial, and was released into the full world, at my races capital. Not a minute passed before I got a in game mail, from Raven, with directions to a neutral town to the south east, on the border between the snowy capital of the Leprechauns, and the swampy marshes of the Spriggans. So, grasping the new flight controller in my hand, I took shakily to the air, and departed.

Raven chose the Imp race, and little Snow the Undines, and while the races tended not to mix to much outside themselves, we did not care. The location they had picked was a little out of the way hamlet called Elyswin. It was a small town of no real regard on the fix of fertile grasslands where they left the forest and meat the marshland of the Spriggan territory.

They had decided that this would be where we rebuilt what we had lost, and reopened our business to the good people of ALfhiem. We had, combined, enough Yrd to buy a real nice premade shop, but I vetoed it, and purchased a large tract of land bordering the forest near the edge off the marshland, setting a plot for our store and home on the tree line, and clearing the forest a ways back for our personal garden and herb patch. I think the town leveled up when we popped the hous, as it was slightly bigger once the shop went in. Over the next six months as our stock and services grew, the town would continue to grow, while still remaining far enough out of everyone's way that it would never really be a hotspot.

But the important thing was we were back. Eiridanus's oddities and curios emporium was resurrected, and our little family was back together.

It was good for a while, then the company that ran the game got in major trouble over some illegal activities it's manager was involved in, and the game almost died. Hell, the entire VRMMORPG industry almost died. But now, almost 2 years after the end of SAO, it's blossomed like never before. Lots of the old SAO players joined up, and they new game master reincarnated the skill system of the orignal, and even restored our ability to use our old SAO avatars.

It's nice. Here we are, a big, happy comunnity once again, claiming the good of what SAO did out of the evil.

Tommorrow is another day, and I can say with no regrets, I am happy to have been there.


	2. Chapter 2

_Sword Art Online:Afterlife_

_By: The 483_

_**Set after Episode 25 of the Anime.**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Sword Art Online**_

_**Spoiler Alert: Some spoilers, Light to moderate, are contained herein.**_

**Chapter 2: Business as usual.**

I yawned heavily, usually unwilling to be up this early on the weekend. But, it had been an easy week at school, and I had wanted to get a early crack at mob farming. Besides, the store doesn't run at its best if me, Raven, or Snow aren't in. Sure, a stall with a NPC pops out front, but that isn't the same. I like interacting with the people that are trying to take advantage of my good nature even though I already offer some the of best prices in the game.

Of course, this assuming people are on to shop, of course. While Elyswir has grown to a respectable size of late, it's still considered a back water. It was a journey for anyone not based with the Gnome's, Leprechaun's, or Spriggans. But it was still better then being located in a more populated areas, because the land was cheaper, and if people had to work to get to you, the less serious ones didn't bother, which cut the amount of pointless BS I had to deal with.

OS, I had been behind the counter for around an hour, and had yet to see a single living player. So, I was poking through a digital magazine when someone did come in, and, apathetic and sleepy as I was a this point, I did not look up as I sent my greeting, and there was easily a 70% chance I would have been apathetic even had I looked.

"Welcome. Browse about, some prices negotiable, training schedule and pricing on the poster on the wall to the left. My right, rather. Any questions, and I may, by some gracious act of the divine, be able to assist you." Not my normal pitch, but I am not a morning person. ESPECIALLY a weekend morning person.

"Well, that certainly sounds promising. Thank you." It was a girls voice, so I decided I needed to look up.

She was cute, tall and slender, decked out in white light armor with red trim. I may be biased toward redheads, though, so I might not be one to fairly judge her looks. She had a light one hand sword, a rapier or maybe Epee hung from her hip, and had the frame of a fencer, and kindly hazel eyes.

Her equipment was fairly high grade as well, for its type, which was unsurprising once I saw her guild tag. She was a member of Radiance.

Radiance was the guild lead by one of the old SAO players, formed so they could easily stay in touch in game despite the chosen races, as, even though most, as with myself and this woman, used our SAO avatars, we still were separated by race. Radiance was of course, not solely SAO'ers, but admitted anyone who could pass some test and presented themselves with acceptable behavior. It's not that SAO people were snooty, but, living in a game world for two years, you ended up behaving like you really were, or with polite enough conduct so as not to get lynched. Such was not always the case with most casual MMO'ers.

But the main distinction was that the majority of the guild were also the Clearing group for the new castle of Aincrad, and some of the more skilled players in the game. So, there was about a 50% chance this woman was one of the highest ranked player there was. The calm, yet erect way she held herself certainly seemed to suggest that she was no slouch.

She browsed about, leaving me free to continue reading. It was an old magazine, but it was talking about the new Adaptive Code System. Basically, it was an organic program which would allow the code from one game world to be altered into compatible data within another, in a sense enabling all the players from all the different worlds travel from game to game. It was real high tech stuff, and fascinating. I jumped as the customer cleared her throat politely.

"I am sorry," she said, "but is this all of your stock?"

"Oh, not at all. On the displays on the main floor, I just put a decent representation of what I offer on the other floors. Did you have a specific item in mind, or did you just know the type of item?" She put a finger to her chin as she thought about it.

"Well, I am not sure exactly what it is I am looking for." She sighed, and looked tired.

"Well, ma'am, tell me your trouble and if I can't help you out, I'll recommend someone who might be able to." She sighed again.

"That's how I wound up all the way out here in the first place." She looked irritated briefly, and then her face cleared to an apologetic smile. "Sorry, I am surre it is bad form to insult the shop you are hoping will stock you." I shrugged, then shook my head.

"Nah, it's fine. I happen to know the owner of this place, and he's a jerk anyway." Both points true, even if I am the owner.

"Oh? Who's the owner?" Oh, well, so much for that.

"I am. What can I do for you?" She giggled slightly, and her smile took an odd turn.

"You wouldn't be flirting with me, would you?" I had to think about that for a second.

"Hmmm... good question. I guess you could say that I was, but no more so then I do anyone else." Suddenly I thought I recognized the look as one of a humoring a child. I gave a curt bow. "I apologize if I offend you, Ma'am!" She chuckled lightly, and waved it off.

"Oh, no offense taken. I just wanted to warn you before you wasted your charm that it would be futile." She held her left hand up, back facing me, and I saw the small, plain silver band around her ring finger.

"Oh ho, congratulations, Madam. It always warms my heart when I see people who managed to find happiness while trapped in Sword Art Online." She gave a genuine smile.

"Thanks. I did get very lucky in that regard." I returned the gesture whole heartedly. Anyone who could find Love in SAO, and still hold it now, got my support.

"I didn't manage anything as exciting as a spouse, but I managed to come away with some family myself. Now, Ma'am, what type of thing are you looking for?"

"Well, my guild is one of bigger groups working up on Aincrad, clearing the way through the floors. We spent two years in that world, and only cleared the 75th floor. A lot of us are still determined to do it right, and finish the whole damned thing. We often run full day, sometimes two day raiding operations, but all I and the other guild chefs have to work with is..." she made a disgusted face " the icky low quality ingredients we scavenge in the castle. We want to clear at least to the 75th floor again as soon as possible, just to get our non SAO members versed in it, and have a baseline for minimum gear requirements for recruiting more Progression parties who were not on the frontlines in SAO." She sighed, and looked tired again.

"Needless to say, this frantic pace hasn't left a lot of time for many of us to lay foundations outside of personal houses and other safe places to log off of. And We can't do much with the poor quality of supplies the NPC vendors carry." She faced me, looking irritated at the lack of available stuff. "Spend two years building up my recipe book, just to have everything change. Ugh." She shook it off, and brightened again.

"So I have been going around, to resident player shops, trying to find someone who can supply bulk orders of higher class ingredients, to help preserve the moral on the longer raids. It can get ugly up there when all you have to work with is basic bread and salted meat rations every time. Unfortunatly, the closest I have come, is alchemists, but their stocks are suited more for a spice rack then a kitchen proper. I kept asking every new shop where I could get decent food, and those that didn't point to NPC vendors seemed to indicate if anyone would have it, your shop would." I nodded, understanding her pain, and pushed myself up off my elbows on the counter.

"I know what you mean. With so many of the players living out of their capital or aligned cities, they either log or eat out of the restaurants, there, and take field rations if they plan to be out for long. Outside the alchemists or crystal crafters, there isn't a big demand for ingredients of high quality." Her face fell.

"So you don't have anything?"

"Well... I wouldn't say that... not exactly. Let me take you out back, show you the garden." I turned, pulled a ring of keys off a shelf, and moved to lift the partition between back area and store floor. She followed with no hesitation, which spoke either to her naivety, or more likely her surety in her combat prowess. In neutral town, you never know when some stranger might just attack. I unlocked the door to the back acre, and led her though the dense trees into my garden area. I had a modest selection, all the produce I could think of, lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, onions, ecetera. Spread out in a line, with a dozen of each crop type. For each plant, each row had 8 grade C plants, 3 grade B plants, and one grade A plant. The max yield I could get was 10 items a day per plant, though I rarely harvested the low grades unless I had an order placed for specific amounts. I had the same set up further back for alchemical and medicinal herbs.

I always harvested A grades, and stowed at least 100 surplus of the B's in the shop, in our lowest basement storage. But, seeing as the A grade veggies and produce made reliably decent reagents for potions and spell work, I had a contract with a friendly alchemist by the week for my A grade products. There were still plenty of tiers I couldn't have, such as A+, AA, AA+, AAA, and S grades, but my cultivation skill level made those out of reach of my garden. I have been trying to get Snow interested in it, but she doesn't seem to want to.

The customer walked among the rows of plants, examining each until she figured out how I stacked the rows, and looked pleased.

"It's simply wonderful! How do I go about picking what I'd like?"

"Well, depends. You said "bulk" orders inside. What type of bulk are we talking about. She tapped her chin thoughtfully, then, with a wave of her hand, opened a series of windows, and made some motions which I couldn't judge.

"Hmmm... to do what I'd like to, I think I would need about 400 units a week of a number of your C grade crops, 100 units of the B grades, and 40 units of the A grades. That should give me and my other cooks enough material to keep the troops happy over the course of the week.

I think dollar signs might have shown in my eyes, the way they do in cartoons. Now, when I set prices, I usually gauge them on what the average open market price is. Sometimes I do a case by case sale. I give preferential treatment to friends and good customers. I don't care about customer loyalty. If someone has something better than me, or better priced, buy it from them. I am not going to hold it against a shop if they can provide a better deal than me. Most often, I do whatever the girls want in regard to price, unless I feel I should do better.

SAO mates, I felt, would get a reasonable price, or even bleed me a bit. Possibly still some residual guilt from my sloth in the game. But the more pressing concern was that of the 70 units a week of my grade A stuff, most of it was already going to various alchemists, potion makers, magic crafters, ect. I had semi permanent contracts with at least one who took almost all m best produce. She would be coming for her shipment today, in fact.

"So, then you want a onetime load?"

"Well, maybe at first. But if the effect are very good, I would want to look into something more long term. Maybe a weekly contract or the like."

"Well... I am certain I can handle the C and B grade load. But due to the maintenance the plants require being too much for me to raise more, I do not think I can manage your A grade demands. Right now, all the stock is going directly to a consumer by contract. I will talk to her, and can possible, depending on how much she uses, if she will cut her order." She looked apologetic.

"Oh, no, I wouldn't want to be trouble. The B grades will be fine."

"It's no problem. I will talk to her. She's an alchemist by trade, and if I remember correctly, most food type ingredients only provide a health restoration effect to potions." I pulled a clip board ou of my inventory, along with a stylus, and handed it to her. "Go ahead and list out what you'd like, in what quantities, even the A grade stuff, and we'll pull what we can today, and I'll start stocking the rest." She nodded, still looking off put, but 5 minutes later, she was roaming happily, humming to herself as she inspected what plants I had, and scribbling on her pad. For 15 minutes, she looked about, occasionally talking to herself, nodding, and making pleased looks. When she finished, she walked back over, smiling contentedly and hugging the clipboard to herself.

"I really must admit, your selection is amazing." I shrugged.

"When no one else really has a selection at all, it's not really hard to have a better selection."

"But I really am amazed at the sheer number of different crops you have growing here."

"Is nothing really difficult. Whenever I encounter a wild plant that could be harvested, I just attempted to make seeds from it. All it takes is one plant and some patience, and you can plant any number you have the land to grow on. Wander around this place enough, your bound to encounter almost anything, so I just started hoarding, because I am too lazy to remember where all this stuff grows." She got another strange look, but shook her head, smiling again.

"Well, regardless, if you could furnish me with even half of the stuff on the list, it would be more than suitable to give us a change of pace at HQ." She handed the board back to me, and I tucked it under an arm without looking. I would have to do some analysis before I could decide on a price. And since all but the A grade materials were zero maintenance and not being utilized, I was looking at a 100% profit. Maybe, if this paid off in the form a of long term set of weekly contracts, I could make enough to have another basement level added on to the shop.

The thing about storing consumable ingredients, was that unlike the original SAO food items, these items were loaded with a decay code, where the quality of the good would decrease in a set number of days until, at the end of day 7, the food would rot unless persevered. If I had the money,, I could get a new floor built, and add a number of freezer cabinets, which would allow me to store a certain amount of food indefinitely. All I had right now was a single unit, and to stock enough food just to fill this order, I would have to add another for just the weekly storage.

"Now, if we can head back inside, I'll get to work on this list, and get you a quote to bring back to your guild." I started back up the path toward the shop, and she dropped into place next to me.

"With veggies and stuff taken care of, I was wondering what you had available in terms of meat stock?" Damn, there was the rub. There was no real animal husbandry mechanic in ALO. The closest was the beast mount system in place for the Cait Sith. This meant that any meat type items were drops, or provided by NPC. I had... slightly less than none in stock.

"I have... slightly less than none in stock. What ... um... particular meat would you be looking for?"

"Anything other than frog." She shuddered. I roughly tried to puzzle out the scope of what she was trying to accomplish in my head, remembered I was terrible at such things, and gave up. I thought about all the drop locations I could think of, Plains Stork, Hell Cows, Dire Camels, Forrest boars... Ah, that one could work. The was a forest, a couple hops away, Grisnel, where groups of 12 level 42-47 Forest Warthogs could be hunted. They dropped good leather and tusk ivory, so I occasionally took the girls and hunted there when I had the creative fever struck. They were found other places, but not in the high number groupings. And the forest itself was not often hunted because there were no real cache's inside the forest, and the density of the high strength enemies mae it tedious work for even a fairly skilled party. But, they did have somwhere around a 15% chance to drop Grade A pork, and a slightly higher chance for lesser pork.

"How much time do you have?" I asked. If she had the time, I wouldn't mind making a hunting party out of it. Can never have enough materials, and the sheer number of hogs per pull would mean almost certain drops of pork each set. She looked surprised, then quizzical.

"I had no plans other then scouting shops all day. ... Why?"

"What's your challenge level?" A polite way of asking "are you any good in combat, and if so, what level of enemy." She looked thoughtful.

"Oh, I think about 65+." I blinked at her.

"No, I mean solo challenge level." In a lot of the upper tier guilds, players almost never fought solo. I would not expect otherwise in the top rated clearing guild.

"That is my solo challenge level." I stopped and stared openly at her.

"Really? Wow, what's your group challenge level?" She looked irked, and then thought about it.

"Well, with our normal progression party, I would say, 75-78 or so. Any higher than that, and we just don't have the skill scores for a good sweep. It just devolves into a tedious grind." She turned back to her irritation. "Why were you so surprised at my solo challenge level?"

"I would use the term impressed, more than surprised. Even with my girls in optimized gear, we could possibly pull a 65, but it would likely be messy." I returned to my trek. "Anyway, while I have no meat in stock, I do know a decent hunting ground where we can get some higher grade drops thanks to the mob density. It's a fairly high level, but if you can pull at a 60+, we should be able to clear, oh, 100-150 drops in 2 or 3 hours." I stopped, opened the door and held it for her. She hesitated.

"Oh, I wouldn't want to be a bother."

"It is not a problem, Ma'am. It's one of the services we offer here. All I had planned for today was to run the shop. And the only obligation I had was a pick up from one of the shops supply, but one of the Girls just cropped up, so she can sit in for that. I can have her total up and begin pulling stock for your list, have as much of it as can be managed by the time we'd get back." I smiled as she walked past into the store. "Besides, I could use some of the materials they drop to, so it's a win-win across the board." She examined me deeply for a moment.

"Well... if it wouldn't be too much trouble... it would be nice. How much would this extra work cost?"

"Time to work that out later. Need to see what the conditions are like, and all of that. Hunting parties aren't the same as straight dungeon escorts. I mean, what if we put in the work, but failed to achieve the desired results? That would look pretty bad if I gave a quote and collected prior. And, seeing as you are from one of the most respectable guilds in Alfhiem, that comes with a certain amount of credibility." I said all of this, while moving inside the shop, setting the keys back in their space, and following my guest to the center of the room.

Was I going out of my way? Not really. I had multiple motivations to do this. Chiefly, I was bored as hell, and not likely to pull any random raids or heavy work today anyway. Another point, I genuinely liked helping my fellow former SAO'ers, and, if what this woman said was true, I would be doing a good deed for a number of them. Yes, the fact she was kind of pretty, even though she was married, helped grease my engines, that is just a facet of being male. A core skill, if you will. Unavoidable. And, I was only a few points from hitting 750 with my on hand sword skill, and besides a liking for even numbers, I was expecting another skill slot upon reaching it. So, in short, I was a mite eager to get some work in, and the hogs I had in mind would push me there. Plus, grinding with company beats grinding alone, n the girls don't have the patience necessary for reaching goals more than a point or two away.

"Oi, Runt!" I called at the ceiling. There was a squeal of surprise, and the clunk of something falling over, and footsteps moving to the stair case. A door opened, and a high, girly voice called out crossly.

"Hey! Why did you have to startle me like that! How'd you even know I was in, anyway?"

"Cause, besides that I can check my friends roster, and house roster, to see who's here, you were clumping around up there loud enough to raise the dead."

"I was not!"

"Maybe not. Anyway, come down here, you're on counter duty today, I'm headed out."

"What? I don't want to sit in this hovel all day!" She came down the stairs and broke onto the floor, ignoring the fact, or maybe not noticing, that I had company. "Maybe I have plans already?"  
"Don't be silly, Runt." She glared at me, her little bright green eyes flashing under her black bangs.

"Why do you still call me that, Big Brother!? I have been the same size as Snow for months now!"

"Scratch it, Runt, we have a guest." She still looked angry, but turned and gave a formal bow to the Woman with me.

"Greetings, Ma'am." She then turned her attention back to me, but I cut her off before she could continue her ranting.

"Now, Raven, I am taking her out to Grisnel Forest to do some hog farming, formal contract and all that noise." Her features instantly morphed into excitement.

"Oh? Can I go?" I sighed. I do not understand how females can cycle through emotions so fast.

"No, sweetie. I need you here in the shop. She clouded up again, but I held my hand up to stall her storm. "I need you here, because Eris is coming to pick up her shipment later, and someone needs to be here for her." She caught herself, and looked skeptical.

"Eris is really coming?" I walked past her, back around the counter, to a cabinet, opening the drawer where I kept the potions.

"Yeah. Think you can meet her and give her here stuff?" I pulled out enough potion to cap my stock, plus a few extra, and a handful of random teleport crystals of the nearest town, home town, guild hall varieties. I heard raven sigh.

"Yeah. I can. But you owe me."

"Whatever you say, Runt." I gathered the spare kit up returned to the customer, and offered it to her. She looked shocked.

"Oh, no, thanks, I am covered on such things. No need to worry."

"Please, I insist. It's part of the service I provide when I am... retained to do a job. Besides, it's always better to have too many potions and crystals, then too few. If you feel too uneasy with it, you can always give the excess back when we are done." She still looked hesitant, but accepted. Not uncommon. Those who were old hat in a MMO like this were often reluctant to accept anything for free. I did a quick personal inventory, decided everything was in order, and nodded to myself.

"Alright, then, Raven, I think I am ready. Do me a favor, and bundle up Eris's stuff, and then, if no one is in, gather up as many item as we have on the list I left on the counter. Anything interesting comes up, don't hesitate to call me." One of the new systems added after the SAO players consolidated in Alfhiem, was the guild chat system. While we didn't really think of ourselves as a guild, we still registered as one, called _Epsilon_, just me, Raven, and Snow, simply to take advantage of the grouped finance system and chat. It was like making a video call, and was helpful when we were separated in game.

"Now, friend," I turned to the woman, "what's your most comfortable role?" In all MMO's, there are 3 base roles. Tank, Damage, and support/healer. Tanks, or Vanguards as they were called in SAO, are high defensive skill players, who hold enemy attention and keep the healer focusing on only having to heal minimal targets. Damage do high damage, and healers keep everyone alive.

"Well, I specialize in damage, but I can heal or even tank if it is necessary."

"Ladies choice. I can do damage, but specialized as a tank when I picked up this baggage." True. When I first... adopted, Raven and Snow, they were level 4-5, and not skilled at all. But, as I worked with them in the low fields, Raven had a tendency toward damage, and Snow was a natural support player, so we had a full setup, just the three of us. It was funny, I didn't know it at the time, but I realized later, I really probably would have died to keep them safe, so tanking was my natural role.

I opened my inventory, found my tank gear, and did a full equip. Shiny, jointed metal boots built around my legs. Heavy metal gauntlets around my hands, my left having a built in knuckle and a flat piece or armor back of my forearm for deflection an blocking. Ring mail under light metal chest armor plate, and over that a base white leather duster with jagged black designs covering the entire surface to the point where it was hard to tell which color was more prominent. On my back, just over the hips, laying horizontally, the grip hanging right in the area my right hand would sit if I had my hands on my hips, popped my sword in it's sheath.

"Cool, then. Raven, give us a hug, then were are off." Raven did, then shuffled off behind the counter, grabbed a stool, and began poking through the Magazine I had left as I held the front door open, and followed my guest out. "The forest is not terrible far, we should be able to make it in 2 or three leaps."

(...)

Combat was slightly awkward at first, but then, working with a new person, and against mobs they have never faced before always is. But, she was smart, skilled, and was undoubtedly better then I was. The sheer size of each pull, being anywhere from 10 to 15 animals, and the very resilience of the hogs, made it difficult, but as long as no more than three attacked at a time, it was not a big issue. After our 3rd pull, we were moving in a synchronized fashion, and after maybe an hour, we had learned each other's style sufficiently to where we could near predict what we were each going to do.

Few things anywhere are as fun as the fluid dance that is a combat team that is skilled and coordinated.

Example: A hog would charge, and I would swing, catching it's tusks with my sword, and sending its front half into the air. I would call "switch" and in the same movement bring my sword vertically down, catching the next hog mid charge and halting it dead as she would slide beneath the first, slashing its underbelly, before digging in a heel and launching herself over the second, delivering half a dozen stabs to it while in the air.

Now, I prefer to hold my sword as a knife fighter holds their knife or dagger, horizontally, the blade parallel to my arm, the back of the blade running along the back of my forearm. My sword is a light sword, similar to a cutlass, but instead of a rounded finger guard, it was flat and triangular, with the outer edge sharpened as a continuation of the blade, which itself was wide and flat, and not as long as a standard long sword. This grip made it so I landed lighter overall force hits on a target, but was ideal for quick slashes and guards, as I could throw either a feather block, or my entire weight into it. And, it looked cool as hell.

For almost two hours we fought, pausing to heal and ret between pulls, until it was about one o'clock. She suggested we take a real world rest, and I agreed.

"You can go ahead and go first." She nodded, then, without a word, logged out. I opened some windows and looked at the drops accumulated. We'd killed somewhere around a150 in the 2-3 hours we'd been grinding, and, by my estimation, had recovered maybe 75-90 chunks of pork.

My guild chat called for my attention, and I pulled it open, Raven's irked looking face staring at me.

"Sorry to bother you, brother, but a player by the name of "Slyk" is here, and he says that you "promised" to make a titanium blade for him if he could get his hands on a Titanium bar." He manner, an the emphasis she put in the words told me all I needed to know about the situation. It did sound familiar.

"Alright, Snow's in? Good, have her bring it to me."

"Why Snow? I want to go!"

"Has Eris been in yet?" She looked down and to the side.

"No..." I had to suppress a smile.

"Then I still need you there. Have her bring me the parts, and then tell lord muckity muck that I will send the gear as soon as I reach a post box." She nodded, looked off put, and closed the channel. My guest was awake again, and smiling faintly.

"Howdy." He smile deepened.

"So, I am guessing you and your little sister joined SAO together?" I must have looked more surprised than I thought, as her face seemed to darken.

"What? Oh, oh, oh. I get you. But Raven isn't my sister." So, I outlined how me, Raven, and Snow got together. She listened patiently, and was smiling as I finished.

"That's nice. I remember seeing, on the streets of the starter city, that some soldiers were shaking down the children there. While it was sad to see people taking advantage of others, it was encouraging to see just how many people went out of their ways to help each other." I chuckled slightly, and leaned back against the tree, looking up.

"Yeah. Funny part of it is, I never would have thought I was the kind of guy who would do such a thing." She giggled.

"I understand that. I had never imagined I would find my husband until I did. I was pretty much convinced I was not ever going to be the marrying type." I nodded at this.

"It's crazy how you never really know who you are until your life is in the balance."

"It is nice to know, though." She let out a satisfied breath. "I know I am happier now than I ever was before SAO. Anyway, did you want to take your break now?"

"Nah, I got Snow coming. It's all good." I had opened the guild window again, and watched Snow's location click over into Grisnel. Half a minute later, she dropped lightly from the trees above to the ground.

"Good afternoon, Brother," She said to me, and then bowed to my guest, "and guest." Snow was as calm and friendly as Raven was loud and fiery. Well, Raven my have been a little louder, depending on how you measured. Save the fact that she had White hair and red eyes where Raven had Black and emerald green, and the radically different temperaments, the two could have passed as twins. She opened her inventory, and produced a bar of titanium, and handed it to me. "Raven told me to bring this to you." I stared stupidly at it.

"Alright... where are the rest of the materials?" She cocked her head to the side, questioningly.

"This was all I was given." I sighed, and turned, opening my guild window again, and calling to Raven.

"Oi, Runt. What's the deal, giving me just the bar? Where are the other materials?" She let an innocent look play about her face.

"I was given no other materials by the customer."

"Is this person still there?" She nodded. "Ask him why he did not give you the rest of the materials I quoted him on?" Her head turned, and she spoke to someone off screen. She had her end blocked, so I could not hear things not directed at me, an people on her side could no hear me. I left mine open, because I do not care who can hear me.

"He did not retrieve any of the other materials. He says, as they are all of a lower level, that it is a common service _and courtesy_ for the merchant to provide them with the cost of the item being made." My jaw muscled jumped at the pure arrogance of this upstart.

"Well, you can tell him, that it is NOT one of the services I provided. The price I quoted, was the price for the item provided he supplied ALL of the materials, not just the ones he felt inclined to." I am fairly sure she quoted me in the telling, because I saw her flinch once, and she looked almost upset when she turned back.

"He asks how much it would be for you to supply the mats."

"Find out the price for each on the general market, and then tack on 40% per single item. If he starts to rage at you again, tell him that if he continues treating you in that fashion, I will return his bar, and he will get nothing. And get a look at his guild name, and remember it." She was busy for a minute or so, and I heard Snow and my guest talking.

"I apologize for his behavior." Snow said wearily to our friend. "He is very particular about the standard of customer he works for, and by telling him what he was supposed to do, and implying he was rude for not doing so, Brother becomes very stubborn." I missed the others reply as Raven came back into frame.

"He wants to haggle."

"No, take it or leave it." She turned back, talked for a second, nodded once, waited, the sighed.

"He said he'll still take it. And... he's gone."

"Good. Now, did you get his guild name?" She nodded. "Very good. Please consult the public listings, and find out who run that outfit. Then, address an official message to them, informing them of what occurred. Ugly it up as you see fit, and sign my tag to it. Then, near the end, add that if this warty little pimple EVER speaks to anyone in my employ on my property again, that their entire guild will be permanently banned from purchasing from me, and that all of the suppliers using my good will be warned, with penalty of embargo, from selling any of my goods to them."

"Alright. Oh, give me a second, Eris Just came in." She closed the feed, and I turned to Snow.

"And yes, Snow, rudeness like that does make me stubborn, as to ignore and leave such rudeness unpunished, simply promotes more of it." Snow sighed and shook her head.

"Don't you think that is a little hypocritical?" I shrugged.

"Maybe, but I do try not to be rude to someone who has not been rude to me or mine first." She shook her head again.

"Anyway, I figured you probably forgot to bring some food for yourself, so I made a few quick lunches for you and your customer, if you would like one, Ma'am." The woman smiled sweetly.

"That is awfully kind of you, Miss. Thank you." Snow beamed, blushing slightly, and handed over a small parcel, before walking over and handing me one. Raven opened the call again. She looked sheepish and expectant.

"Hey, Big Brother... Eris is going on a raid today somewhere on the floors in the 20's in Aincrad, and asked if I wwanted to go. Can I, please?" I worked hard not to smile.

"Yeah, sure. Just, you know, if you bite anyone, don't tell them where you live." She brightened, then looked offended as I finished.

"Hey! I don't bite! And I told you I didn't want to be picked up like that, anyway, so it was your own fault!" I waved a hand dismissively, turning my head away.

"Whatever, Runt. Just make sure to set the stall before you leave, have fun, and do some damage. Also, if you would, ask Miss Eris if she might lower herself from her lofty nobility to deign to slum it with one off my ill reputable birth to stat me a message so that I might join her for a cup of coffee soon? I need to talk to her." I watched her turn and covey my message. She smiled wickedly when she turned back.

"She says she owes you a slap, and that she'll message you when she gets a free moment. Alright, if I don't see you before log of, I'll see you tomorrow. Bye!" I returned the parting, and closed my menus. Girls, especially in their early teens, are exhausting. I looked up, smiling.

"Thanks for the food, Snow. You two didn't have to wait for me, let's dig in."

**End 2**


	3. Chapter 3

_Sword Art Online:Afterlife_

_By: The 483_

_**Set after Episode 25 of the Anime.**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Sword Art Online**_

_**Spoiler Alert: Some spoilers, Light to moderate, are contained herein.**_

**Chapter 3: Area Boss**

I understand I have talked a lot about Raven already. Want to know about Snow? Snow is... she's... well... Snow is Empathy. Hell, that doesn't help.

By empathy, I mean a person's ability to feel what others are feeling. Kind of like reading faces, you know, telling that someone is upset when because they frown, are happy because their eyes twinkle when they smile, and that kind of thing.

Snow did that, only cubed. She could read a person so thoroughly at a glance, that I thought she was a telepath, even though I know better than that. Like when I first met her, and caught her by eye and she came over to me. She told me later, once she gauged I wouldn't laugh at her, that she looked because she could _feel_ me looking at her, knew my curiosity and mild amusement, and _knew_ that I would be sympathetic to their plight.

She couldn't say how she knew these things like this, just that it was natural to her as seeing or breathing. She thought it might be a special power only she had, like "your special power you have that makes women want to slap you." That right there is an actual quote from her. Damn kids.

Alright, so, basically, this meant in dealing with people, Snow was very good in her judgments. If she had had a mind bent toward larceny, she could be rich. But I honestly think that she had no evil in her, and was strong willed enough to never be tempted to go too far, save extraordinary circumstances, or Raven's influance.

Anyway, connecting this, once she arrived and lunch was started, I ducked out of game to use the bathroom. I couldn't have been gone more then 4-5 minutes. When I logged back in, Snow was sitting, almost snuggling against the other woman, and they were both giggling and behaving as if they'd been friends for years. THAT is Snow. I didn't get up, and began pounding down the food. The nice part about Snow having made a new friends, was that it would give me a few minutes stall to break out my port -a - forge and whip up some new kit. I had received a number of boar tusks from the morning grind, and well crafted pig bone is stronger than several grades of steel if used right.

So, I was perfectly content to let Snow keep ... um... keep miss... Hmm, appears I forgot to learn my customers name. I guess finding a pro member of Radiance in my midst gave me to lend more credibility then I thought. Though, I reiterate, the fact that she was attractive could have (read: did) affect my judgment a wee bit (read: a lot). True, I was well aware of this bias. Enough so that I often found resentment in the fact that they had such a power over me. But I did not fear becoming a woman-hater. Truth is, I like them far too much to ever truly hate them. They are so much... more than men are. So, I waited, and when Snow felt like letting me get a word in, I did.

"You should have told me I was being rude, because I never did get your name, miss." She looked surprised, then chuckled.

"Honestly, it never occurred to me, as I assumed your name was the one on the shop. I am Asuna, pleased to meet you." She bowed without moving, and I, taking a drink from the canteen Snow had fetched, choked and sputtered as a few things clicked into place, and the nagging feeling that I knew this person somehow rang "jackpot." Snow, ever the polite little miss, could darn well feel my shame and dawning comprehension, but remained mute, her little white brow cocked.

"You... *cough* ummm, ack *cough* urk... *cough*. I mean, you are Asuna the Flash!" It had all clicked with the name. The old, Knights of the Blood uniform coloring, the way she moved, even the hair style. I had, of course, seen her before, just never interacted with her. To say we operated in different leagues would be the politest way of putting it. The few times I had seen her, from a distance when I was working with one of groups before the main groups cleared the 50th floor, she had seemed distant, almost aloof from the rest, buckled down with a grim look and slaughtering all before her. Relaxed posture and a friendly smile made her look completely different.

"Yes, That was one of the things I was called back in SAO." Snow's eyes danced with sparkles.

"Wow, you are really _that_ Asuna!?" She said, looking up in awe at the older woman, seeming years younger and glowing like on a Christmas morning. She smiled down at Snow, and nodded. Snow didn't quite explode, though looked close. Must have tripped safety cutoffs.. "WOW! You were my hero when we were trapped in SAO. Me and my sister Rae would listen to the stories the people would tell in the bars about you, working your way up in the Knights of the Blood and being the strongest fighter on the clearing team." I had, of course, promoted this hero worship in the girls. I admire strong, confident women, and I figured she made a very good role model to aspire too, as long as the girls didn't try to do anything dangerous, that is. "And then when they said you started working with the "Knight in Black," that really strong solo guy who everyone was saying such mean things about, and cleared that one high level boss yourselves, I knew that nothing could stop you!" Asuna had looked fairly uncomfortable, as I assume unlimited hero worship must be pretty awkward if one possesses a certain degree of humility, as this woman clearly did. My respect, already high, climbed another notch. But her face lit up again when the "knight in Black" was mentioned. She smiled broadly, and held out her left hand, back of the hand up, fingers angled down like she was getting handed out of a carriage.

"I didn't just work with him. I married him." Snow, rather than squeal in delight like I thought she would, got a sage and gracious smile, and nodded slowly. It was almost like a gesture a benevolent religious type figure would make. She could be at times a little girl, and other times, solemn adult. She constantly amazed me in her oscillations.

"That is good. I knew he couldn't be bad like the people said. He didn't _feel_ bad." Her face again split into awe. "I heard both of you were in the party that ended the game." She said it as a statement, but had the air of a question. I could not read the look that flashed across Asuna's face, but it cleared almost instantly.

"There were many of us there that day, and 14 didn't make it to the end. But I was among them, and it was my husband that landed the final blow." Snow's face went rigidly intense, and see rose, as formal and solemn as only a little girl dealing in serious, little girl business can be. She bowed, deep and straight.

"To you and all the brave souls who worked so hard to free us all, I thank you." Leave it to the girl to beat me to what I should have done. I stood, and bowed as well.

"Yes, as she said. Plus, as I assume you are more likely to run into the others of that particular group, if you would pass along our thanks, I would be most grateful." Heh. I don't think Asuna was used to being treated with this kind of attention. She was glowing slightly pink, and looked indecently uncomfortable. She nodded, and I let it lay.

"Geez," I said, mostly to myself, "I meet a legend, and I treat her just like a normal person." Her face got hard.

"I am NOT special." She said it with surprising force, and Snow's eyes got wide and she flinched slightly. I didn't need to be psychic to know what she meant. The semantic content was: "do not treat me as special." I could do that, so I opened my inventory window, and dropped my Port-a-forge. Basically, in appearance, it just looked like an anvil and water bucket, but it provide all the structure I needed to craft most of armor and weapons that didn't require a special type of anvil to craft on. So, as Snow turned back to their conversation, I got out the titanium, some steel, and a chunk of iron ore. A smack with the crafting hammer, and pow, one titanium sword. I picked it up, felt its weight and balance, then tossed it over by Snow.

"Snow, be a dear and send that to the guy who ordered it, please." Snow fixed me with a look that should have made me feel self conscious, didn't, and removed a carrier pigeon from her inventory. A carrier pigeon is exactly what it sounds like, a single use item used to mail an item to a single character's personal residence, or of their guild halls mailbox. She picked up the sword, attached it to the pigeon, and sent the little beast on its way.

"That's really all it took to craft a weapon?" Asuna asked, curiously.

"If you have the skill point for it, yeah. I think it's about 650 to use the Port-a-forge, along with the 700 to use Titanium tier crafting components. Then, I just use the schematic, produce the slug, and depending on how I strike it, impart the stats I want in the item." I gave a mean grin. "I am quite pleased with what I did there. By cutting the titanium with iron and steel ores, I weakened the overall durability score, and made it about 10% heavier than a blade made of pure titanium, rather than the alloy. But unless the idiot has a strong familiarity with the metal, he will never notice. And my favorite part is that I managed to meld in a fault into the blade that makes it so when used to block what would have been a critical blow, the sword will take about 15% of the damage straight to the durability, so he will have to repair it more often than even a steel grade sword of equal level." I was a little proud. It's hard to craft in perfect impurities like that. Asuna looked slightly off put.

"Isn't that kind of mean, what with the higher price you already charged?" I decided to concede the point, and be honest.

"Possibly. But, I take offense when someone comes into my house and tells me how I am supposed to run my enterprise. Also, it's not like it isn't still a functional weapon, that, if serviced properly, will do its job well and reliably, and on par with other weapon of equal level. But basically, I just don't like it when people yell at one of my girls. Especially when they do so when I am not available to make them swallow their teeth."

"Even though _you _yell at us all the time." Snow said it in a single sigh.

"True, but I have cause. You girls love to irritate the hell out o' me." I looked back over at the other woman. "Basically, it's still a perfectly functional weapon, and the cost I tacked on for being a rude asshole and the materials is still slightly below what he would pay for a similar item from another vender." Why did I feel the need to justify my actions to this woman? I don't know. She was just the type you wanted to respect you. She gave me a blank look, and I turned back to my smithy, giving it up for a lost cause.

I tossed the remnants of the Titanium bar into the smelting pot, along with the gloves I had been wearing, a dozen of the highest quality pig tusks, most of the random bone fragments, and some other random odds and ends that I needed to add. Then I opened my crafting menu, selected what I wanted, and clicked the "Create" tab at the bottom of the menu. I jerked the chain, dumped the molten metal, and an ingot was produced on the anvil. I drew my Smith hammer, gave a few expert taps, followed by a stronger hit, and with a slight pop, a new pair of gloves, complete with Knuckle points interspersed was born. Snow and Asuna had begun talking again, so I left them to it and admired my craft.

Along the back of the arm, the flat, slightly curved plate of Hog bone was overlaid with a thin sheet of titanium that stretched from wrist to elbow, with slight flaring segments just above the wrist, and formed a blocking plate almost akin to a kite shield, but at a fraction of the weight, and much stronger. This was only on the left hand, as the joint of the wrist was fused so as I could not move my hand back, and provided a good, straight driving angle for when I used the arm to punch. The glove portion of the hand was light gauge mesh underlay coated in all major sections by jointed metal cuffs, so the only non-plated part of the hand was the rotation cuff of the wrist on the right hand, and where the fingers and thumbs bent. 4 nubs of pointed pig bones, the tips of the tusks, pointed from the knuckle plate on each hand, kept bare bone, with another 4 arranged on a square in the back plate of the left hand, but with a flatter cone then the knuckle points, coated in the same surface of the metal plate as the back of the hand, which would give me a nasty backhand swipe. The whole piece was done in a nice, shiny steel blue, with the underlay black, and the bone tusk tips gleaming, enameled white. Really pretty stuff. Overall, it offered a damage increase of 25 points over my actual weapon knuckles, as well as a total defense increase to armor of nearly 135 points. Offhand damage increased by 15%, with no bonus to mainhand, but still, that was a hell of a boost.

Satisfied with my new "Tusk Knuckle", I also bound it to my Damage equipment sheet as both main hand, and offhand, and saw my stats all give a small increase. My effective attack speed rose sharply, as these were nearly a quarter of the weight of the heavy, block style Knuckle I had been using.

You don't see many people use Knuckles in games where swords are on the table, but the blunt damage force bonus, attack speed bonus, and overall maneuverability, added to the visceral pleasure of beating something down with your own two hands, made it a nice trade off to a sword. Plus, it surprised a lot of opponents, which is always helpful if you know how to counter them, but they do not know how to counter you. Also, the fact that when you're a hand to hand type, you also get a bonus and extra attack options because your boots become counted as weapons too, and, if you can keep up, it creates a very fun, complex, and difficult style of acrobatic combat. Instead of a blade, your whole body is your weapon.

With my new gear slaved to my sets, I broke down the old weapon, and stashed the materials, and let the girls talk while I finished lunch. Snow had mailed the sword while I crafted, so I left them to it, having nothing worth interjecting. It was a nice, peaceful interlude. When the finished, Asuna looked over at me, a clear "what's the plan, bub" written over her face.

"Well, Miss Asuna, do you think you have enough material to work with, or would you like to continue?" She looked concerned.

"Well, I would not be displeased with more..." Snow, reading it instantly, cut in.

"It would really be no imposition, Asuna. We have nothing better to do, and even though he doesn't say it, Big Brother is indecently pleased with the skill points and materials he has been collecting with your assistance." Ugh, brat.

"Yep. Plus, I'd like to fill at lease _some_ of your order, and if getting you enough meat can do that, I am all for it." She smiled sunnily, and I turned to Snow. "Alright, then. Snow, want to hunt some pigs with us?" I knew that there was likely no reason she would not, seeing that it was a chance to fight alongside her hero, but I had also learned that, when dealing with the fairer sex, you ALWAYS ask. Never try to assume how a woman will behave. If you ever think you have one figured out, there is something wrong with you. Snow, rather than react with the boisterous enthusiasm I thought she might, was calm and collected.

"Sure. I think that would be fun." So, we cleaned up our mess, and got back to the grind. With Snow, things progressed much faster, as I could solely on my damage, as Snow was a healer by trade. So with me not having to try to redirect and absorb most of damage, because Snow would be keeping us up. This meant that we were cleaving through the pigs in about half the time.

Snow is fun to watch when she is at work. She wielded Chakra's as her weapon, which, was kind of weird. Firstly, because there were not a lot of ranged weapon classes in SAO. There were a few, bows, and such, but they seemed more like flavoring then actually useful. But, if you were to only be relegated to a support role, it was a valid gear setting. While we were in SAO, I would pull aggro, while Raven would work her spear, and Snow would toss her Chakra into the fray, and, since there was no healing magic in SAO, use potions and crystals as necessary. But it was really cool to see it with the magic in ALO. She charged her Chakra with her healing energy, and tossed it at the character needing heals. She also had sever channeled healing spells that gained boosted effects from her weapon stats. So, while me and Asuna were slicing and dicing, Snow stood back, throwing out her razor discs to add damage, or throwing at us when we needed so heath. It was fun, a very mobile, but not tiring fight.

We cleared more than 300 pigs before I noticed there was a little counter at the top right corner of my vision that read "Forest Hogs: 314/350." Odd. Maybe it was a achievement or something. No one else said anything, so I ignored it. The next time I had cause to look at it, was when, as I bounced a hog up, and Asuna gutted it with a flick of her blade, the rest of the assaulting pigs faded away. It was completely unexpected, which meant that I did not like it. I looked over at my companions, and their confused looks said that they didn't like it either, though Snow was likely just relaying the combined effect of both of our agitation. My thoughts were interrupted by a loud gong sounding. A global announcement then scrolled across the top of my vision.

"**Razorback, Lord of the Forest has appeared in the Forest of Grisnel!"**

Suddenly, the counter made sense. It was a damn context sensitive Area Boss encounter. Trigger the set number of necessary effects, and blamo: boss spawns. I made a quick swap to my full tank gear, and scanned the area. From far off to the north, there was a loud, low squealing noise. I caught both girls by eye, and noted that they were ready, which was good, as before I had a second to say anything, there was a cracking as trees were split in twain, and the giant hog appeared. I reached quickly under where my sword was sheathed, gripped the smaller handle and in one motion flicked out and tossed in a spinning arc my curved Bolo knife. It contacted the center of the pigs skull, and served to draw it's attention, even though the blade ricocheted off the skulled and off into the forest. I brought my hand bacck down, and, twisting my body, unsheathed and made contact with the curved tusks as the pig closed the last 15 feet. The charge faltered momentarily, and then there was a flash, and the thing grunted, throwing me in the air and away.

"Oh shi..." I flipped end over end, landing in a heap, and lost a fair chunk of health, which Snow had already managed to fix most of by the time I threw myself back to my feet, and blocked the second charge, but managed to keep my feet planted this time. Asuna was already on one side, a hailstorm of stabs flying at a speed I could barely follow. The pig surged forward again, and my arm was pushed back until flat against my chest, but I manage to hold it. I had my left arm free, so, naturally, I started slamming my fist into it's skull, but even the new Tusk Knuckle could do nothing against the resistance in this creature's skull. About 20 seconds after it had made second contact, there was again a bright flash, and I was tossed up and over it backward. As I passed over its rear, it arced its back, and kicked me. I went spiraling away, halted by a tree, and crumpled again to the ground. It had dropped aggro, and charged straight at Snow. My Bolo knife gone, I lifted a stone with the toe of a boot, flicked it into the air, spun, and backhanded it off my shield plate, contacting the flank of the hog, and reasserting my threat precence.

A brief explanation. In combat, all actions that heal, buff, or damage generate an amount of threat, or aggro. It is inherent in helping the A.I. of enemies calculate who it needs to be attacking. Tank roles are designed around their ability to generate larger amounts of threat then healing and damage classes. The threat is factored in by gear rating, individual moves, damage over times, area damages, and other such things. Tanks are give a range of options that both deliver extra threat generation on their damage moves (passive aggro), guards (a buff used to lower teammates threat generation) and what are called Taunts, or moves whose sole purpose is to generate enough instant threat to draw attention firmly upon the intended target. My Bolo Knife Throw, and this rock were forms of my taunt, and allowed me to control who the enimes were attacking. Okay, back to the fight.

The hog imediatly turned back to me, tossing clods of loam out from under its plate sized hooves as it thundered down upon me. I spun high, and drove a slash downward, catching it on the nose and again halting it's charge.

"Okay, it has a switch mechanic at 20 seconds, swap on the flash." Another benefit I had of being in my tank stance, was the ability to block most knockbacks, so as this pig, which was easily three times my height at the shoulder, stopped like it hit a wall when I held. It, like many bosses, had an ability which ignored this, but on a cool down timer, and then threw me, dropped aggro I held, and fixed upon the next highest target. But while Asuna was equiped for damage, she could run interference long enough for me recover my balance and reassert control.

I will say this about good players, and something specifically about her. A good player, an experiance player, can confront an unknown situation like this, and succeed. Sometimes, in running with players, people will try and only play their one role, like main tank, or off tank, or some other niche, and that can wipe a party. Other can charge into an unknown, follow another's lead, and be an asset despite their limited experience. Asuna was the second type, and worked as a support player as easily as she could a leader. That made her a rare treat, as skill doesn't mean much if a person refuses to act in concert with another when they are able to act in a higher role.

The fight itself was not especially difficult, as there were no other mechanical surprises. But the hogs high damage resistance, coupled with the fact that this boss was probably rated for at least a 6 person group, meant it was a long, and tedious fight. By the last three health bars, Snow was using her damaging attacks more then her healing ones, and Asuna was always right on top of the switches, to where I didn't even need to call time. He was on the last little sliver of his health when I spotted a finisher opening.

"Get ready to finish it!" I called, and charging up my punch, and slammed my fist down right in the top of it's snout. Its shin hit the ground, and I moved my hand, gripping my sword like a large axe, spinning up a big swing. It lifted its head and roar/squealed, and I caught it right on the point of its chin, a flash of silver slicing its body as it reared onto its hind legs. Asuna, prepared, held her thin blade with one hand, the other pressed palm open on the pummel, and with the flash fo a sword skill activating, shot forward, clean through the center of the hog, where she landed lightly on the other side, as the pig swelled and exploded into errant pixels. It was over, and our experience and skill point gains scrolled across our visions. At the top, another message rolled by.

"**Razorback, Lord of the Forest, was vanquished."**

Snow fell back, sitting on her butt in the churned earth, and heaving a tired sigh. I didn't blame her, that bastard took half an hour to go down. Asuna walked over near her, sheathed her blade, and sat next to her, while I flicked lazily through the loot drops. Not bad, a decent sized Yrd drop, a handful of low to medium quality material and food drops, a pair of pants, and 3 items worth a damn.

"Asuna, did you get enough meats to tie over your demand? About 15 more pork flanks dropped of this guy if not." She smiled a gentle smile, not the guarded expression of one who expectt that a group leader is about to take all the good drops for themself. My esteem for her rose another degree, especially as "loot ninja-ing" as such an act was called, was almost expected.

"With those, it should be more then sufficient for my needs for quite some time." I nodded thoughtfully.

"Alright, then, a rare, S-quality material dropped. Other then that, just low quaility mats, food, and pair of pants. Let me snag the material, and you can have the rest. But if you want to roll for the material, that's fine too. I can always farm it later." She waved it away like I had suggested something obscene.

"Oh, no. Go ahead and divide up the loot however you want. This encounter was random, not covered in what you proposed to do for me. It's all yours if you want." I must admit, even though it makes me feel petty, that this surprised me, although, after having spent all afternoon with her, it shouldn't have. A generous person when it comes to loot is a rare find. The look Snow was giving me told me I was not going to screw our guest out of goods, but I would not have done that anyway. Hmmm, she looks even more like Raven when she scowls like that.

"Well, It's no hassle, as I have to do some research, as I don't even know what I could make with it yet, if I even have the crafting levels. But thank you." I slotted it, an "Massive Enameled Boar Skull." "It's not all loss, though. Here, me and my girls have no use for these, and they fit with what you are doing, so you can have all the rest." I slid them into her inventory, and closed the interface. Asuna looked over, and her eyes widened. No doubt. 3 stacks of grade AA bacon, and one Grade S ham. She swore under her breath.

"I didn't even know there actually were grade S food drops in this game. Even in SAO, I only encountered a legendary food once."

"Well, then, consider it a personal thank you for helping me add a heretofore unknown boss and material into my stash. If you have no more need for food drops, what say we head back and collect the veggies Rae gathered, and if need be, Snow can help you hump it all to storage."

(...)

I sat on my stool, same as I had, several hour earlier. I sighed, tired again. Asuna had, of course, tried to pay me upon returning to the shop, and I had, for now at least, managed to forestall her. I had no intention of taking any money for the days adventure, and truthfully never had. If she persisted, as she undoubtedly would, good people are like that, then I had several rationalizations ready for her. Anything from "I got more then what the service was worth in value received" because the material, and the little "unique" tag that it carried meant that even the lowest price, were I to decide to sell it, would be more than triple what the day had cost me. If nothing else, I would write it off as a show of confidence, hoping to increase business with he upper class raiding guilds. Eventually, I would have to collect some money if she wanted a weekly/monthly delivery, but until that time, I would not take a cent.

But for now, alone I sat. Asuna had not had the inventory space to carry all of her goods, so Snow had insisted on assisting her in transport. This actually had worked out, as for reasons she kept to herself, she wanted her channel to me and what she was buying personal, and out of the guilds (other than the cooks, at least) notice. This reason had nothing to do with her husband; she was not the kind of person where such a thing could have been an issue.

So, Snow went, because no one would hassle her, as girls as cute, friendly, and honest as Snow do not attract the kind of negative attention I would have. My plan was to call my schematic broker and have her search out what I could craft with my find, but I was too lazy to get my act together. I considered just going to sleep, but I figured it would be nice to wait for Snow to get back. So, I opened my Shop tab, and noticed I had a note. It was from Raven.

_Oi,Brother. Eris took me on a clearing run on 25th floor, and we finished early. She said she would be happy to meet with you, tonight, at Cafe Asgard in Swilvane, at 8 server time. She asks if you would send her a mail if you cannot come, so she will not have to waste her time waiting for you._

_ -Raven_

Great. I checked the clock, and saw I had just over an hour to make my way all the way across the world map, and into the very heart of the Sylph capital. Figures. Eris always did enjoy busting my balls. I closed the note, set up the vendor, left another note for Snow, and left. My wings were going to get their workout today.

(...)

I stretched my last jump a little too far, and came in for an emergency landing at what felt like terminal velocity. Luckily, the guy working the visitors entrance was used to me.

"Not bad, Eiri. What'd that knock off, half?" I grunted, a heap of ouch. The Sylph shook his head. "Figured you'd have learned to fly by now." I un-jumbled myself, and stood, dusting off my front. I wore my full combat kit, because even though you cannot attack within an non-aligned capital, it is a sign of weakness to not strut about in your best kit.

"I live to disappoint, Vinn. And that landing knocked off a bit more than half." I popped a potion and refilled my health. He smiled wanly.

"Well, then, mission accomplished. What can I do for you tonight." I walked over to the booth, a nice, mushroom lit little box made out of giant, living, folded leaves. A very Sylph type structure, a blend of airy, spire like construction melded with natural plant accent. Pretty, as the plant decoration helped disguise the metal and mason skeletons of the architecture. I leaned on the open window sill.

"Eris has called upon my humble personage. What's the atmosphere like tonight? Chance I'll get lynched?" Always a chance. While I could not do damage within Swilvane, residents could damage me. The only thing that stopped them from wantonly killing any outside they felt like, was the amount of scorn that race mates could bring down upon those who did this. Not that there were always problems. Sometimes a person made such a nuisance of themselves that their elimination was not only socially acceptable, bit publically sanctioned, but me, I always tried to be polite when I had to visit.

"Oh? That Alchemist who runs _The Slice of Madness_ Potion shop?" He asked, with brow cocked. He knew damn well, but liked to irritate me. "She is a slice herself." A true statement, as her character model was, like all others using the same since the new owner took control, was based off the mapped data provided by the Nerve-gears inputs. Personally, I think this, to a minimal level at least, was wwhy Alfhiem was more polite then most MMO's. That little shred of authenticity caused people to behave a little more, as they couldn't just make a new face once they ruined their own reputation. "Very well, here is a pass." He handed me a little golden leaf, with a purple "V" engraved upon it. I activated it, and it appeared as a symbol next to my name, showing I was a visitor of an approved resident. Passes were not necessary, but people with one carried more weight then one who could not get their reason for visiting approved by the cities bureaucracy. Upside: less likely to be accosted. Downside: reputation of self and whoever listed you as safe would suffer more if guest was not courteous while in the capital.

I thanked Vinn, and headed on into the city, toward Eris's favorite haunt. I checked the time, and at this pace, I should just make it. The _Cafe Asgard_ was a base wooden building, the low support made to look like uniform tree trunks, complete with branches and foliage in the upper third of the building. The windows of the upper floor shown yellow amongst the leaves. Put one in mind of a giant sized version of a Keebler Elf type tree house. It was nice, and I walked right up to the heavy wooden door, and pulled it open, and was greeted y the chiming of the airy bell that marked a new customer.

Inside, the Cafe, the floor and walls were made to look like a hollowed out tree, while the furniture and counter were the light metal frames that would be found at a French outdoor Cafe. I scanned quickly, and found Eris at her usual table, chin resting on her folded hands, supported on the tabletop by elbows, eyes half closed in a sly smile. I sighed, and worked y way over, grabbing the chair opposite her.

Eris was indeed a "slice." She was taller then I was, thin, long limbed, yet with curves in all the proper places, all nice, rounded curves, no sharp angles. She had clever, kind, dark green eyes with a single ring of gold in the center of her iris's. Her hair was the same shade of dark, green, closer to black then green itself, waist length at best, but worn in a high ponytail that left substantial bangs framing her regal face. Her long elf ears were thin, and sat at a ruler straight flat angle from either side of her head, and somehow added to the elegant air she wafted. Her mouth settled with a slight smile when she was at rest.

Dress wise, she was far from conservative, but not tramp-ish. He base garment seemed to be a deep green sheath dress draping to the ankle, but slit in such a way that her left leg bare from lower thigh down. From there, there was an opening that started below her navel, leaving bare skin up her front, showing off cleavage, but not in obscene amounts, more than half each breast covered, but leaving an effect grater then if she had gone with chest bare. Her long slender neck, as well as her shoulders were uncovered save the straps where the dress connected from under the arms. The left arm, like the left leg, was bare, but the right arm had a sleeve that covered all the way to her wrist. A pair of slipper like shoes the same color as the dress were eon her feet, and thin braided black and gold leather woven in a crisscross pattern up her shin to just under the knee. A matching leather strip pattern wound around her left wrist to just below the elbow. Her right hand was wrapped in a black, fingerless glove, stitched with golden thread in a vine like pattern.

Accessory wise, she had a simple pair of crossed golden links around her right wrist, a simple silver small link necklace, and a single, thin golden hoop handing from the lobe of her left ear. Her weapon, a whip made of black chain of varying thickness studded with edges of sharp metal, was clipped to her waist. In short, she was pretty, smart, and a good fighter, and knew it.

No sooner had I sat down, then a waiter NPC delivered two cups of steaming coffee to our table. They were the wide, fairly shallow saucer like cups perfered in this territory. She lifted it with both hands, and sipped gently before speaking.

"Good Evening, Eiridanus." Her voice was deeper than most fems, and had a seductive, flirty quality to it.

"Good evening to you, Miss Vega." She gave a small gross face over her coffee. Eris was a good girl. She wasn't an SAO player through the luck/misfortune of having been too sick on launch day and missed out on a copy. While she still could not fully grasp what had happened to us, she was kind and understanding about it. She had heard about those of us trapped the following day, and now she was always fighting with some odd feelings. She felt kind of glad that she had missed getting trapped, but felt guilty about it when confronted with those of us that did get trapped. A nonsensical reaction, but one that gave her points in my book.

"Please," she said, a little cattishly, "how long have we known each other?"

"Since shortly after my girls dragged me back into the Virtual Universe." I answered, starting my own drink, but using the dishes handle, all manly like. She cocked a fine haired green brow.

"Dragged? I was under the impression that you came fully of your own volition."

"Of course, I took the path available, that they engineered and laid out so that I could not refuse." She smiled warmly.

"I see, so they batted their little lashes, called you "Big Brother," in a sad voice, and you were powerless to resist." I grimaced. Eris held the one critical factor I look for in friends. She liked my girls almost as much as they liked her. Sure, she had several other good features, but that was key.

"I wish. They didn't even give me that much. I got a little, nearly illegible letter, telling me what I was going to do." I sighed heavily. "Eris, never adopt a stray kitten, unless you want the rest of your life to be devoted to "do what kitten wants." Her eyes flashed uneasily, as they always did in the wash of guilt at having not been one of us through a happy accident of fate. "Knock that off." I growled. "No one who is worth anything will blame you for getting lucky. There is no shame in being thankful, especially from you. Even the consideration you give toward our feelings is more than most can manage, and it is appreciated. But don't beat yourself up for it, or the girls will get mad at me for letting you." She calmed and smiled shyly, looking like a little girl herself.

"Sorry." I waved it off, and her happy, calm demeanor reasserted itself. "So, what's this I hear about you rubbing shoulders with Radiance?" Ugh. Lord how I wish Raven was still small enough to paddle properly. Little brat.

"It was strictly an act of desperate necessity, I assure you." Her brow arched again.

"Oh? You only associate with the upper crust when you are desperate?" I looked surprised.

"What? No. Not me. Their necessity. Riff raff like me doesn't mix well with the whole True Knight stuff they peddle. Anyway, that's why I asked to see you." She looked disappointed, but I did not take the bait.

"That's the only reason?"

"Pretty much." Well, did not totally take the bait. "Not that I don't enjoy your company." It was a game we played, there was no real spark, but we did like each other well enough. Or at least, I liked her well enough. "Today is business. The vegetables I provide you with. Another customer has requested some of my stock. Would you be willing to cut some of your order so I may supply some to them? You hold the contract, so it is no hassle if you wish to keep it all. You were buying it first, so you get priority." She stared at me over the lip of her cup, a faint smile.

"Alright. You can have it all. I've just been using it to create high class feed for the Cait Sith mounts anyway, and I have enough to carry me for a while." She opened an inventory window, and dissolved her contract. It was my turn to cock a brow.

"You made that easy. You feeling okay?" She gave another tired smile.

"Yeah. Guess I am just tired. I was part of an escort helping a lowbie guild clear a floor on Aincrad, as I am sure Raven told you." She sighed and looked slightly irritated. "The little Guild Leader was of the type that knew everything and had to give orders, and had little less the zero Raid Awareness, while convinced that he was watching everything. Wearying. Oh, and Raven, I believe made sure that no one from that guild shall be buying form you any time soon." My turn to sigh.

"She bit someone, didn't she." Eris inclined her head. "Not exactly, but she was less currteous then I would have been when the leader started yelling at her after something he did caused him to get most of his people killed.

"Any trouble?" Eris shook her head.

"Nah. Raven was fine. The guild leader made the mistake of confusing size with skill. Will be a while before his ego recovers, I imagine."

"Well, I did teach her well. I need to keep watch for hooligans?" She shook her head again, and then got an oddly wistful look in her eyes.

"You know, I feel bad for it, but I envy you a bit, sometimes." This was interesting, and surprising.

"Why is that? Can't be my manners. Or my looks. I resemble the south end of a north bound Ass." She was looking shy, and that confused me.

"Well, it's just with all the horror stories I hear, when I see you and others like you, you just seem so much more... involved then the rest of us." I thought I got a bit of what she was aiming at, but figured I was reading it wrong. In all the time I had known her, once she understood the reason my avatar was different from the native Alfhiemers, she had never one really asked about what went on in SAO. Like she was afraid of what I would do if she pried. I didn't know if I wanted to encourage her, or stop her, so I stayed quiet until she kept going.

"I mean, I come and log into this world, and try to behave as if it were real. But with you, and Snow, and Raven, it is real to you guys, isn't it? I mean, I have seen people do Role Play, but when I watch you three, or some others for SAO, it's different." Her face screwed up, and she looked unbearably embarrassed and doubtful. "I do not want to offend you, but can I ask what it was like?" I was quiet, gazing evenly over my own drink at her. Now, so long after it was over, I didn't really have the raw fear of the event that I had had upon awakening. Here in this world, it felt like there, but I knew it was not, even though my heart still beat faster every time I went to open the logout screen, thinking that this would be the time the icon was gone.

"You would not understand." Not that I did not trust her. But I was like a lab animal. I had been shocked on this subject too many times, and was wary to approach the same rigged structure again.

"I know I cannot understand. I know the stories from the news, the sleepless nights I had when I realized that I had almost been one of you. The guilt that came with the feeling that I was lucky. But still, I cannot help but want to know about it, when a close friend did suffer through it." This caught me by surprise. Not many people will admit that they cannot understand something that will forever be outside the realm of their experiance. I decided that if there was anyone that I could talk to who had not been one of use, Eris would be one likely not to get the wrong idea.

"Well, Eris, the long and short of it was, for more then a year, Snow and Raven kept me alive." She said nothing, just stared with big, solemn eyes. I waved down the NPC waiter, ordered another round, and returned my attention.

"There were bad times, sure. We signed up to play a game, and ended up trapped in a strange place where one wrong move could kill you. Some of us couldn't take the pressure, and simply withered away. Others, not believing it, got themselves killed. Others, suddenly no longer bound by society, lived out their own sick little fantasy's, and some good people were killed. Still others looked into themselves, and found they were the types who wanted to do good, and tried to get us out of there. Me? I cowered in my whole, because I was more afraid of dying then I was of living stuck in a virtual world." I looke dup from my drink, and met her eyes.

"To tell the truth, maybe I do treat this game a little too seriously. My only defense is that this game is the sister of SAO, and when I am here, it's like we never left, except for one important detail. Here, without the threat of death, I am not afraid to try and do whatever it is I want. And since my highest aim is to make sure Snow and Raven are happy and healthy, it's not difficult." She was quite for a long time, staring down into her own drink. I thought maybe I had bummed her out, and was about to try and break the tenshion, when she spoke.

"Okay. I can understand that. But, what do you mean, they saved you?" I blinked, but quickly caught her drift.

"Well, I guess from the outside, or even their view, I do look like a sort of big brother to them. But not from my view. To me, I guess the closest thing to what I feel for them would be like they were my daughters. I don't know. I am probably just weird, but that's how it feels. As to how they saveed me, well, that's easy. You know how I can get kind of reckless when I start feeling comfortable with myself. Well, in SAO, that was never a worry, as having these two little girls dependant on me, meant that I never once took a risk that was not forced upon me. And with those two little bounders constantly underfoot, I didn't have time to get depressed and do anything stupid. Damn girls still run me ragged." I heaved a sigh, and Eris smiled softly.

"Thanks. Sorry to quiz you like that." I waved it off.

"No worries. It's for the best. We can't walk around the rest of our lives, afraid to remember, like touchy bombs waiting to go off. Besides, there was lots of really fun stuff that happened in there, too. Remind me, and I'll set it up some night, you can come to the shop for dinner, and I'll let the girls tell you about it. They'd like that." She giggled.

"You really are strange about them."

"Biology be damned. They are my girls, because they allow themselves to be." She smiled again.

"Alright. That sounds like fun. I'll remind you sometime, probably during vacation. Testing is about to start, and doubt I'll have the time for a few weeks."

"No worries, friend. You know where we live." Never really thought about it till it was mentioned, but subconsciously, I guess I did think of this as a real world I existed in.

"That I do. I am going to log off, now. Have a save trip home, and give the girls my love."

"Yes, Ma'am." I said, and watched her fade out. I finished my coffee, decided I had nothing else to do that night, and rose. I was tired, and ready for bed myself. I would make the hops back to the shop, check to see if Snow had logged, and then, if she had, proably log myself. I could figure out how to get off without charging Asuna, and get my schematic broker on the horn later. No hurry. I made my way to the tower, one of the perks of being a official visitor meant that I could use their tallest launching point, which, if I glided properly, would allow me to cut the jumps needed by around 2. Ah, life was good.


End file.
